It
is so sad when you put a face to a name, Barry was one of my students
on his MAA course, and remember him to be a cheerful chap and a good
course member. It was good to see from a photo sent in by Lou Cox that
Barry made MAA and served at sea on HMS Brilliant.

A totally irreverant sense of humour which was only kept in check
if he was seperated from the other "terror"...Lennie Yateman. Life
was much more interesting around these two very colourful characters.

Both of them were banned from the Mess by Tim O'Donovan after a
dinner which culminated in Barry smacking a kiss on top of the Commodore's
head! (I firmly believe that Lennie had quite a lot to do with it....)

David Tindale

Here is another version of
events

Just to correct Tom's dit above. It's amazing how stories get a
little distorted over time. I was DNPM at Plymouth Patrol in 1979 when
Barry Holmes and Lennie Yeatman, both RPOs at the time, misbehaved
at a mess function.They actually verbally abused the MAA who was Tim
O'Donovan. As Mess supervising officer and with Tim's cognizance I
banned them both from the mess for three months. This ban period went
over Christmas and New Year and, as anyone knows who has served at
Plymouth Patrol, we had some smashing parties and social events. After
one month ban they put a request form in to have the ban lifted and
attended my requestmen. The request was turned down. After another
month they requested again and pleaded that their wives were also being
punished as they would not be able to attend the Christmas parties.
I informed them that their wives could come as my guests if they wished.
They then said that that their children were being punished as they
would not be able to attend the childrens' Christmas party. I informed
them that their children could come to the party as guests of the mess
and refused their request. About two weeks before the party I called
them and Tim into my office and lifted the ban. Barry walked up to
me, took off my hat, tilted my head forward and kissed me in the top
of my head. Sorry, but it wasn't the Commodore he kissed.

It had always been my intention to lift the ban before Christmas
but I had to make them sweat it out a bit plus the bar takings had
dropped drastically during the ban

Barry and Lenny worked hard and played hard. They were great team
members, great to have around and great mates. RIP Barry.

Vitt Cox

My memories of Barry are vibrant! He was personality plus, worked
hard and played harder. I remember he bought a huge German Shepherd
as his home was on a busy street and he was away. He paid a fortune
for it, bought a huge freezer and then filled it up with dog food.
The dog had a heart attack and died!

He was always very short with me and I didn’t know why (who
couldn’t love a stormy jock with a keen sense of humour full
of his own importance) until one day I asked him. He looked up from
his desk (Plymouth PHQ), thought for a moment and said, “coz
it’s like looking at myself, now phuck off and see if the marines
will take you” Which is how I ended up at 1Cdo Brigade!